25 Signs You Grew Up Latino In Texas

Growing up Latino in Texas was an experience unlike any other -- and one you wouldn't trade for the world. To put it simply, you got the best of both worlds: refried beans and chili, Spanish slang and Southern drawl, paletas and Blue Bell Ice Cream, Jarritos and Dublin Dr Pepper. Let's just say, you don't envy anyone who grew up outside the greatest state in the world.

Can you relate? Here are 25 signs you grew up Latino in the Lone Star State:

(P.S. This list is by no means exhaustive, and doesn't cover everybody's experience growing up in Texas. Please, feel free to share your own in the comments!)

When the friendly employee at Whataburger asks you if you want some Spicy Ketchup with your Honey BBQ Chicken Sandwich and fries, there's only one acceptable answer: "Yes, please. More, please." Nothing is too spicy for a Latino kid from Texas.

Yes, there were piñatas at every single birthday celebration -- whether you were turning five-years-old or 35-years-old.

You know the words to Selena by heart, and you could sing the full lyrics to "Como La Flor" in your sleep. Let's be real, Selena Quintanilla is a national treasure, but she's also a Texas icon. Former Governor George W. Bush even proclaimed April 12th as "Selena Day" in all of Texas. Viva Selena!

You love Tex-Mex and you love Mexican food. And yeah, you know there's a difference.

A Christmas celebration without tamales?! No mames!

The holiday season meant lots and lots of tamales. Your tia probably even suckered you into helping her prepare dozens of them one year, and you swore you would never, EVER do that again.

You've had serious and heated arguments over whose mama makes the best chile con queso. You may still hold a very serious grudge against a friend who insisted that her mom's watery cheese sauce was better than your mother's delicious, thick and creamy, rajas-filled queso.

You know, objectively, that a Whataburger taquito isn't a real burrito. But that never stopped you from slurping down a potato, egg and cheese with extra picante sauce every Saturday night at 2am.

Let's be real: there was a portrait of La Virgen de Guadalupe hanging somewhere in your house. Your parents may have even hoarded an extra bottle or two of Holy Water -- you know, just in case.

No matter how low on groceries you were, there were always tortillas, and your parents could think of a million ways for you to eat them: "Mija, there's peanut butter and tortillas. Make yourself a sandwich!"

If you're Mexican, you probably struggled through an internal battle for most of your youth between your Mexican pride and Texan pride. Things got especially tricky during your Texas History class: "Remember the Alamo! Go Texas! Come and get it! Viva Tejas! Oh.... wait."

Conchitas > Donuts.

Enough said.

Summer meant it was time for two of the best frozen treats in the world: paletas and Blue Bell Ice Cream.

Open the fridge of any Latino-Texan, and you can bet you'll find two kinds of ice-cold beer sitting inside: Tecate and Lonestar.

Your parents convinced you La Llorona lived on the Rio Grande, and she would come and kidnap you if you didn't behave! You also lived in mortal terror of la chupacabra and El Cucuy.

All the haters complained that Taco Cabana wasn't real Mexican food, but it still tasted pretty damn good at 3am, didn't it? As you grew older, you learned to appreciate the taste of a warm street taco after a night of hard drinking. The best part was the happy hour special, when margaritas were sold for just $1.50. Only in Texas...

Every Friday and Saturday night of your eighth grade through sophomore year of high school was spent at one of your friend's or cousin's quinceañera. You probably even danced in a few, and your mom tried (and failed) to convince you to reuse the dress for homecoming.

La chancla was a real and imminent threat -- especially since you and your family lived in flip-flops for ten months of the year.

You ask for a side of queso, salsa, and Cholula instinctively -- no matter what you're eating.

Oh, you want a slip 'n slide? That's funny. Your mama wasn't about to spend $20 when you had perfectly good trash bags sitting under the sink. And water guns? Just turn on the sprinkler system!

You learned to cumbia and two-step. And, yes, you can do them both in cowboy boots.

You've taken a spin while sitting in the bed of a pickup -- but only after your family fit six or seven passengers into the actual truck.

You swear by the bandera shot: a lethal combination of lime, tequila, and tomato juice set out in three separate shot glasses to resemble the Mexican flag.

Texans living in other parts of the country know that trying to explain a bandera shot to a non-Texan bartender is an exercise in disappointment.

You've been eating breakfast tacos since before you can remember, and you can't figure out why the rest of the country is just realizing how amazing they are.

Summer meant driving to Sonic during happy hour with your best friend and ordering two Cherry Limeades (or Ocean Waters, depending on your mood.) There was only one method of payment for Sonic runs: all the loose change you found at the bottom of your cup holder.

Best of all, growing up Latino in Texas gave you a well-deserved sense of entitlement. Even if you no longer live in the Lone Star State, you'll always know that you grew up in the greatest state in the country with the greatest combination of cultures in the world! Being Texan, American, and Latino are all a part of your unique identity -- and you wouldn't have it any other way!

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Originally from El Paso, Texas, Cristina Mari Arreola earned her degree at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University before moving to New York, New York. In her downtime, you can usually find her scouring the city for the most authentic Mexican food (still looking...), scaring herself silly watching horror movies, or frantically reading a novel from her (extremely lengthy) reading list. . You can follow her on Twitter at @c_arreola.

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